Camp and Dive at Salt Point State Park

Direct access to 6 miles of coastline and 20 miles of trails. Beautiful, clean campgrounds situated between the sea and forest. Only a 2 hour drive for San Francisco.

Camping at Salt Point Sate Park is a dream. You have your choice of camping by the sea at Gerstle Cove campground, or tucked up into the forest at the Woodside campground…and you can’t go wrong with either choice.

The rugged and beautiful coastline here is a popular destination for abalone diving and spearfishing, and features a protected underwater reserve where you can dive (no collecting). Trails depart from the campgrounds and lead about a mile (or less) to the beach. The two most popular hiking trails are the out-and-back coastal path from Salt Point to Stump Beach, and the loop through the pygmy forest. This pygmy forest, like others found along the coast, features dwarfed vegetation, and although the plants may look like they are struggling to survive, many of these shrubs and trees are more than 100 years old. Wildlife includes the long-tailed weasel, wild pigs, brown pelicans and other water birds, blacktail deer, raccoons, coyotes, and a variety of rodents.

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Reviews

Great spot for close proximity to the cove. Keep in mind that on holiday weekends, the campground can fill up pretty quickly, so be sure to make your reservations ahead of time. If you're planning on abalone diving, make sure you're on top of your permits and tagging the abs on the beach as soon as you come out of the water - the area is patrolled and fines can be pretty heavy.

Spearfishing is plentiful the 4 times I've been. Definitely headed back this year.
It's also one of the < 10 places you can legally take Abalone in CA (with a fishing license and ab card)...and it's really really fun.

This is a great homebase for a weekend of adventures along the Sonoma coast. Be sure to grab all of your groceries before you get out too close to Salt Point. Not many options nearby and you don't want to get stuck late at night without food/beverages.